Progress at Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will spend the rest of the summer months under tarpaulins and scaffolding, but its $1.4 billion renovation is proceeding smoothly. The view from the top of Avery Fisher Hall shows torn-up sections of the Josie Robertson Plaza, which is in the center of the complex, with some areas covered in freshly poured cement. A new layer of stone will soon top that cement and, when completed, the plaza's trademark wheel-spoke pattern will extend from the central fountain. Glimpses of the pattern will begin to appear this coming October, and the plaza will be completed in September 2009.
Konrad Fiedler / Konrad Fiedler/New York Sun
A view of the renovation of Josie Robertson Plaza and the Columbus Avenue entrance to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Where musicians once delighted audiences, Alice Tully Hall -- which is closed for renovations until February 2009 -- is now the site of loud jackhammers and shouting construction workers. The North Plaza, where a Henry Moore sculpture formerly reclined in a reflecting pool, will be the site of a new restaurant and a grassy performance space but, as of now, it is yet to be built upon.
Amid all the noise and dust of this construction site, the shows go on. The Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival will take place in Damrosch Park, the leafy part of the complex located on 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues. The park will not be affected in this renovation.
The portion of the project that is closest to completion is the new entrance to the Juilliard School. It will be finished this September, in time for the arrival of its students. Portions of the complex will be finished on a staggered basis during 2009.
